According to a 2022 Statista study, a whopping 82 percent of Americans use some form of social media. It’s no surprise, then, that most businesses also maintain an active presence on these digital platforms.

You only need to scan major players like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook for a second to discern how prominently they feature marketing content from various companies.

As lucrative as these titans may be, though, limiting your social media marketing to them may cause you to miss other qualified leads. Depending on your organization’s target consumer, initiating a presence on platforms dedicated to a particular interest, demographic, or media type may better present you as closely aligned with their lifestyle and social concerns. This can, in turn, build public trust in and favor for your brand.

If you’re eager to elevate your organization’s marketing campaigns, explore the opportunities on the following overlooked social media platforms. By contemplating their unique potential, you can find creative ways to engage with consumers and increase brand awareness on each one.

Spotify

On the surface, Spotify is just a colossal music streaming service—and it is. However, its members’ behavior presents several possibilities for reaching new consumers. Spotify offers its over 500 million monthly users the ability to curate playlists featuring their preferred genres of music, news, and podcasts. (They can even publish audio media they produce themselves.) Members with accounts on large platforms like YouTube and Instagram will often then drop links to their Spotify pages in order to draw more eyes to their playlists, thus engaging in a form of casual recruiting.

Sensing this potential, many advertisers have flocked to Spotify to reach a younger, more engaged audience that actively draws more users to the platform. Its accessible marketing services include ads that target specific users based on their age, preferred media and genres, and other details, all of which Spotify aggregates to craft a thorough lifestyle profile for each user. Simply record an audio ad, and it will play to the app’s users organically, allowing you to reach an attentive niche market.

Meetup

This social media platform helps users socialize with like-minded folks in their communities, whether locally in-person or online. Members build profiles based on their hobbies and interests, then locate events that appeal to them, such as hiking, watching horror movies, or reading mystery novels. These events are hosted by individual groups featuring their own niche pages, which welcome kindred users to join and connect with one another. Group organizers may even require individuals to request membership so they can vet them for suitability before admitting them.

Meetup’s overall user age ranges, demographics, and interests vary drastically, making it an excellent platform for reaching a broad consumer audience or even networking with your peers. Set up group pages to invite compatible industry professionals to connect and converse or to attract consumers to sponsored events tailored to their interests. For example, financial professionals can plan weekly complimentary cocktail hours for young adults who are kicking off their corporate careers. They can entertain these guests, then pivot toward conversations about their services.

TikTok

With a tremendous one billion active members, TikTok’s social media dominance may soon contend with that of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, especially given its quick growth trajectory that is only likely to shoot up in forthcoming years. While there isn’t necessarily a distinct demographic uniting all of its user personalities, content on this platform tends to lean young (or at least youthful), and this seems to be the preferred platform for teenagers and young adults. So if you’re attempting to appeal your organization to a budding audience, you should look to market on TikTok right away.

You can sign up for TikTok’s Ad Manager to launch ad campaigns and reach your preferred segment of their usership, then measure ad performance with its built-in analytics tools. However, the best way to capitalize on TikTok’s marketing opportunities is to become an active user and draw in organic engagement. Create a profile for your business, and start uploading short videos that demonstrate your products or services at work, introduce team members, and highlight your brand personality. Lean into humor, music, or behind-the-scenes industry secrets to gain viral traction, and update often: recommended frequency varies, but a good rule of thumb is to post on TikTok about four to six times a week.

Discord

A messaging platform that aggregates texting, phone calls, videoconferencing, and multimedia sharing, Discord helps its worldwide participants gather in unique servers, or community subplatforms that users can enter via a link. Once they join a server, they can start communicating with fellow members in general chat threads, topical channels, voice-call rooms, and more. Users can create their own casual servers or unite in fan groups dedicated to a certain content creator, such as a Twitch streamer or podcast host. In fact, one of the most notable facets of this app is its seamless compatibility with other sites—as with Spotify, users can recruit members to their Discord channels by simply dropping a link on other platforms.

Marketing with Discord can be incredibly lucrative if you know how to navigate its seemingly ad-averse layout designed to preserve exclusive communication. The secret to success is utilizing its promise to “create an invite-only place where you belong.” Build a server that pertains to your industry, then invite clients to join and stay engaged with you. For example, landscape designers could launch a Discord server where clients can share their designs and seek advice on lawn care challenges. You could also set up server channels to segment like-minded clients, permit clients to invite their loved ones to join, and welcome other industry professionals to market themselves alongside you. Arm your marketing strategy with Discord’s uniquely crafted social platform, and you can not only make yourself memorable to your clients but also engage with them personally—embedding your organization within their social circle.

TAKE ACTION:
Determine where your target audience maintains an active social media presence, and supplement your marketing strategy on these platforms.